In preparing students for the music industry as well as real audiences outside our school, I have been teaching a class called Performance Shangri-La. The aim of the class is to help students understand the difference between the classical music industry/audience and the popular music industry/audience. In the class which I have been teaching for twelve years, I have developed methodologies to support this philosophy after first creating a safe space for this work. Students identify their own self determination can support or get in the way of their success. With live performance support, assigned readings, and peer feedback, students have planted seeds that will help them be successful in the future.There has been very little research on performance psychology in popular music as well as how self determination applies. In particular, how this applies to those who craft original music in the popular music genre is of interest to me. In classical music there is an obvious measurement to one's success and in performance execution. In popular music the measurement is unknown with variables that constantly change. With the constant framework of success moving from touring and building real audiences we now have social media moving the needle along with using tools in technology to perfect a recording which can be a challenge to recreate live. To me, the focus begins on the developing young artist being able to separate their artistic identity from themselves in order to self preserve and be mentally healthy. The criticism for popular music artists is that every person they encounter is a critic with their own measurements of whether the music and performance is deemed "good." It is all subjective. Teaching developing artists best practices in performance execution, learning to let go of perfectionism, and moving towards human connection is at the helm at all times. Understanding the difference between disciplined daily practice and practicing for a performance is also key. In this workshop, I would like to share my findings and methodologies while inviting a discussion around this topic. Learning from each other through sharing is one of the greatest ways we can connect and continue to bring music education into the future, all with the goal of supporting our students to reach their full potential and “performance Shangri-La.”